2012-13 MoPac M / W Club National Playdowns

If you have any interest in participating in the Club Nationals process for the 2012-13 season please read below and contact me ASAP!
(mlively@bayareacurling.com)
We will be trying to have a 'meeting' of some kind in the next week.

Thanks
Michael

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Hello prospective club national curlers!
Below is all of the up-to-date info we have on the process for 2012-13 club national qualifying through our MoPac region.
Please read....yet again, time is of the essence to get all interested players/team on board.

....some 'big picture' business here
- Firstly, MoPac is going to be more organized this time around about the details and deadlines around this event....than it was last year.
- Secondly, that will allow our club to be more organized as well.
- Thirdly, a reminder...that because we are in arena territory....ice time, dates, etc...are not completely in our control.
......at our club and in MoPac, the volunteers are trying their best to give everyone a fair chance at participating given all the external forces that are working on us.
however, ultimately this is for you and your team....and it may require extra work, effort and commitment on your parts to make it happen for yourselves.
- Lastly, a comment, this competition may not be for everyone. Please think about whether or not your team would benefit from playing in some other regional bonspiels before doing this one.
.....MoPac's new 5-Under would be a great place to cut your teeth, and there are other 'competitive' tournaments as well (seattle's curling club has a few, for example)

I will do my best to give out as much information as I'm able and to keep you and your teams abreast of playdown developments.
That being said, it is part of the championship experience that your team becomes familiar with all of the resources for eligibility, information and registration.
I will point you in the right direction....however, I can't be responsible for all of the details.

ok....there is the disclaimer.
now.....please read this entire email carefully, there is a lot of info

IMPORTANT USCA DATES / INFORMATION
January 9, 2013 - This is the entry deadline by which every individual player on your team needs to be registered thru the USCA website
March 2 - 9, 2013 - This is the club national competition to be held at the Exmoor Curling Club, in Highland Park, IL
(up-to-date information can be found on this pdf, thru this USCA page....they say they will continue to update)

IMPORTANT MoPac INFORMATION
MoPac will again have an 'internal' deadline....which will help us narrow down our playdown dates, venue and format
** If you do not 'declare' before the internal deadline, your team will not be allowed to register with the USCA when they open registration.
MoPac may also be requiring a 'deposit' with your team's declaration.
....if this the case, it would likely be about $100/team (payable to MoPac) and would be refunded if/when your team registers with the USCA
(if you choose to 'declare' but do not register with the USCA to participate in the playdowns....it will not be refunded)

IMPORTANT MoPac DATES
August 21, 2012 (+/-) - This is beginning of the 'INTERNAL DECLARATION' period
September 30, 2012 - This will likely be the deadline for declaring (last year it was 10.31.11)
January (mid-late), 2013 - This is the likely time frame in which MoPac's regional playdowns will be held.

ENTRY PROCESS (MoPac)
(this has yet to be finalized...but, will be in the next couple of weeks)

MoPac currently has 16 clubs and it is the current thinking that every club will be allocated up to 2-3 spots.
It is guaranteed that many clubs will not send any team(s).
However, we may not be able to accept every declared team from the clubs that do because of venue constraints.
Therefore, individual clubs may have to devise a method for paring teams down to their allocation.

As we know from last year this is NOT easy for us....or, any other arena based club.
We can only do our best to find a fair system and ice time if necessary.

**Note: club 'caps' are likely only to affect the men's side of the competition**

ASSOCIATED COSTS
- Overall playdown fee (thru the USCA) is yet to be determined.
However, this fee will likely be in the $550/team range (the USCA takes $360 off the top and the remainder is used for our regional event)
- MoPac declaration deposit...likely $100/team if required
- Internal SFBACC Playdowns...if required, could be $100-$200+ / person
- Travel, hotel, etc....are the responsibility of each participant

Depending on the number of teams declared in Men's and Women's, the competitions could be held concurrently
at the same venue or separated into different weekends.

-------------------INTRA-CLUB RANKINGS
This is the most pressing issue and needs to be discussed ASAP!
Please respond asap to me and Brian Patrick

we would like to have a skip's meeting
(either by conference call or at a designated location before August 13th)

up for discussion would be appropriate means by which we 'rank' teams for possible paring down
(e.g. internal round-robin playdowns or 'paper' methods or mix of the two)

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
- Please read this email thoroughly
- Please fwd this info along to your teammates...and ask them to go thru you with any email questions for me.
(We only have a chance of easing the stress on everyone here (including me) if there's a pecking order to the communication.)
- Please respond asap for scheduling skip's meeting.

Okay...so, that's the 'good, bad and the ugly' of this process so far.
For the 'good'....well, it's really great to see this many teams interested in getting some experience under their belts!

Michael Lively
SFBACC Competitive Curling Coordinator and MoPac Board Member
(for those of you that don't know me)

p.s. you can also consult the usca's 2011-12 rules booklet if you have any specific questions about team composition, player eligibility and other related regional/national playdown regulations.
(this document is last year's booklet...and will be updated for 2012-13, likely in September.)